By Yasmin Abdul Latif
“If you do your work only for payment or just to support a living, then you feel burdened. But if you change that to become your responsibility, then you can feel the difference, that you do have an important role in our life.”
Muhammad Fadzil Harris, 25, a broadcast journalist with TV Al-Hijrah was so passionate about his job that he was prepared to share with me his thoughts and views during an interview session recently for my journalism assignment. It made me realised whether this would be the kind of life I have to face when I graduated from the university.
People might not know him, but if you watched TV Al-Hijrah’s programmes like Majalah Islam, Isu Akidah or Agen Halal you would probably know the person I am referring to. He is the mastermind of these programmes. He graduated from University Mutah Jordan with a bachelor’s degree in syariah. Before he became a journalist he was a teacher at Sekolah Menengah Agama Negeri Sembilan.
After knowing his educational background I first thought that he would have become a syariah lawyer, but why did he chose to be a journalist? He responded by saying that it’s all because of passion. He admitted that he did not have any experience or knowledge about journalism, but because he liked the profession so much he was willing to start from zero. And that surely means that he would have to face a lot of challenges in his career.
Being a reporter is like working at 7Eleven, he said. “Only an hour to have some rest, after that I need to go back to work.”
He said some people were asking him why he was putting his life in such a tiring job while he could easily get another less tiring job with higher salary. His reply was simply that of his passion for the job because there is something in it that “I want to discover.”
Well, he actually discovered a lot in his job, starting from being passionate he had achieved his aim as a journalist – a responsibility to inform, to inspire, to educate and to deliver the truth to the people in modern way to fit with this new era.
Coming from Islamic background, when he looked at what had happened to Muslims nowadays, he said ,”We should be concerned with our society.” One of his programme, Isu Akidah, reported the increasing number of Muslims converting to another religion. In one of the episodes, it exposed strategies being used by certain parties to attract Muslims to their belief.
Isu Akidah also exposed the deviant teachings of Islam and it also reported on social problems among Muslims. By using his position in the media industry, Fadzil aimed “to spread the Islamic da’wah in a way that can be easily understood by the people because this is the opportunity for him to engage with society.” ***